North Korean Leader Threatens ‘Retaliatory Strike’ Against South
New York Times

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the military to launch a “powerful retaliatory strike” if provoked by the South, the North’s state-run media reported on Sunday.

Mr. Kim’s statement, issued during a visit to military units on the country’s southern coast that faces a string of islands manned by South Korean marines, comes a day before the United States and South Korea are scheduled to begin a massive joint military exercise.

North Korea Stance on Nuclear Plan Unchanged
New York Times

North Korea said on Saturday that “nuclear weapons are not the monopoly of the United States,” a day after an American special envoy reported after two days of talks with North Korean officials that there was little change in their negotiating style on their nuclear programs under a new leadership taking shape in Pyongyang.

The talks, intended to start the process of ridding North Korea of any nuclear weapons, ended without any concrete results.

Business dispute, La. gun battle eyed in Norcross shooting
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jeong Soo Paek arranged for store space in a strip mall in Conyers, obtained business permits from the city and made plans for the grand opening of a spa. He just needed more money, police said Friday.

But police said when his two sisters and their husbands wouldn’t repay money he had given them so they could open their own spa in Norcross, Paek fatally shot them and then turned the gun on himself.

Paek had planned to open his own spa this week, Norcross Police Chief Warren Summers said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen,” the chief said.

Paek had borrowed money from someone else to fund the spa in Conyers and needed more to cover additional costs, Summers said.

“There may have been some discussions about money” with family members, Summers said. “There was some part of the discussion that led to the shooting.”

Dr. Ken Jeong’s Stripper Inspection
Vice.com

Before Ken Jeong was jumping out of trunks naked and straddling Bradley Cooper’s head while beating him with a crowbar, he was a doctor. Today’s story is about Ken’s discovery—at his bachelor party—that being a physician sort of sucks when you’re trying to get a stripper who’s worried about her gallbladder or being pregnant to sit on your face.

Choe Is Sully Police Officer of Year
Connection Newspapers (Fairfax County, Va.)

There were smiles all around when PFC Roy Choe was honored Tuesday night as the Sully District Police Station’s 2011 Officer of the Year. He was selected by the station’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and feted in front of his family and colleagues.

“This is a great night, especially for Roy,” said Second Lt. Ryan Morgan who wrote the letter nominating Choe. “I supervised him, the past year, and he can be best described by his selflessness and devotion to duty.”

“He is one of a very few Korean officers in our agency and has done an outstanding job for the Sully District and Police Department, as a whole,” added Lt. John Trace, assistant commander of the Sully District Station.

K-Town, Little Tokyo Lose in Redistricting Vote
Rafu Shimpo

On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission voted 16-5 to approve a map redrawing boundaries that will remove Little Tokyo from the 9th Council District and divide Koreatown into the 10th and 13th Council Districts.

The vote came after an eight-hour session in City Council chambers that left few happy with the newly drawn council district map. Every 10 years Los Angeles City Council lines are redrawn to account for changes in the population as tabulated in the Census. The goal is to have equal population in each of the 15 districts. The new district map must also comply with the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Grace Yoo, executive director of the Korean American Coalition, said KAC and other Asian American organizations, including the Korean American Bar Association, are seeking to file a lawsuit to fight the proposed district boundaries. The map now goes to the City Council, which will cast the final vote.

“I know what a lawsuit takes, they’re causing such an injustice, such a cheating and scamming of democracy that as someone who believes that our American system of government is better than any other. I have to do my part to defend democracy,” said Yoo.

South Korean journalists focus their cameras on Camden
Philadelphia Inquirer

Cruising the city in their silver Honda Odyssey van, a trio of South Korean journalists looked around Camden in awe.

The poverty. The abandonment. The open-air drug markets.

“In Seoul, because it’s the capital, we have some crime. But we do not have this kind of serious crime,” said Yurie Kim, Washington-based coordinator for the Korean Broadcasting System, the largest South Korean television network.

The group was in Camden this week to tape a 50-minute documentary on the effect of the economic downturn in the United States.

Store Owner Fights Back After Several Robberies
FOX 31 Denver

A botched robbery sends a would-be criminal to the hospital after the store owner takes matters into his own hands.

At 7:00 pm Saturday night, two would-be robbers walked into the Cambio de Cheques at 7001 West Colfax in Lakewood, sprayed mace in the face of the store’s owner, Yong Pak, and demanded money.

According to police, Pak grabbed his own gun and fired it at one of the suspects hitting him in the leg. The suspect suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Neighboring businesses tell FOX31 Denver, the owner of the check cashing store has been robbed three times over the past few months and last night the store’s owner finally had enough.

Huh edges Allenby in playoff to triumph in Mexico
Reuters

American rookie John Huh won his first PGA Tour title in only his fifth start by beating Australian Robert Allenby in a marathon playoff at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico Sunday.

Huh, who had never competed on the U.S. circuit until this year, sealed victory at the eighth extra hole to deny the 40-year-old Allenby a first PGA Tour win since the 2001 Pennsylvania Classic.

New UFC Champ to Visit Ancestral Home with Korean Mom
Chosun Ilbo

With the champion’s belt around his waist, [Benson] Henderson ran to the audience and hugged his Korean mother Kim Sung-hwa to share the joyous moment. Henderson wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the Korean national flag on its right shoulder, and the U.S. star spangled banner on its left shoulder. A tattoo on his left arm showed his name written in Korean characters, which he said shows his family background.

Angels’ Hank Conger is working to be a finished product
Los Angeles Times

Young catcher is trying to stick with the big league club for good, but after a rough patch last season and with the likelihood that the Angels won’t carry three catchers, he might be headed back to triple A for more seasoning.

Tampa Bay Rays excited to get look at top shortstop prospect Hak-Ju Lee
Tampa Bay Times

Realistically, SS Hak-Ju Lee knows he needs more experience in the minor leagues. But when the question was asked Saturday about the majors, the promising 21-year-old prospect couldn’t resist.

“I’m ready now,” he said.

The talented South Korean is a nonroster invitee to camp, and manager Joe Maddon and other Rays are excited to get their first look at him.

New Diet Fad Causes Lemon Imports to Surge
Chosun Ilbo

Given the explosive popularity of the “lemon detox diet” among women in their 20s and 30s in Korea, lemons are selling like hotcakes. Since the diet was introduced here last year, it has become an instant hit. It requires dieters to drink two liters of water diluted with 180 ml of squeezed lemon juice a day, while dramatically cutting their intake of food.

Hologram Piece – Casper Kang
YouTube

Photo credit: Jeff Forney/Retna Ltd.

“Hangover” star Ken Jeong is set to star in and produce a romantic comedy called “The Chung Factor,” according to Hollywood blog The Wrap.

Lionsgate purchased the rights to the spec script from first-time screenwriter Andy Selsor for an undisclosed amount. Jeong will produce the film along with Continue Reading »

The White House revealed the guest list for tonight’s State Dinner in honor of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

The list included the regular who’s who of Washington along with a handful of surprise guests including actor John Cho. The Star Trek thespian was the only entertainer — aside from the Ahn Trio, who are scheduled to perform — to be invited to the dinner.

Award-winning novelist Chang Rae Lee got the invite, along with fashion designer Christina Kim of Dosa, Momofuku chef David Chang and Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim.

Other notable Korean Americans on the guest list are involved in politics in some sense and included overachieving brothers Howard and Harold Koh, Washington State Senator Paull Shin, Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang and Virginia Delegate Mark Keam.

Jai Lee Wong, the executive director of Women’s Leadership Circles in Los Angeles, was also invited.

Earlier today, the White House hosted a luncheon which was attended by actor Ken Jeong as well as Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kim Yuna.

Notable omissions for the State Dinner: Actress/comedienne Margaret Cho, former D.C. schools superintendent Michelle Rhee, actor Daniel Dae Kim and KoreAm publisher James Ryu, who was quick to point out that he was invited to the luncheon.

See the entire guest list here.

Here are three stories about Korean Americans who lost their lives during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Grieving 9/11 victim Christina Sunga Ryook on the 10th anniversary
by Janet Cho of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

For Dae Jin and Kyung Woo Ryook, Sept. 11 is the one time of the year that the rest of America can appreciate the enormity of what they grieve every day – the loss of their only child, Christina Sunga Ryook.

Christina, 25, was killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks after a hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the top floors of the World Trade Center.

An administrative assistant in the human-resources department of bond-trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald, she worked on the 104th floor of the North Tower, six floors above where the plane hit.

When people tell her father, Dae Jin Ryook (pronounced “Yook”), 63, that they’re sorry about his daughter and ask how he’s doing, he always says, “I’m all right, thank you.”

“I don’t like to lie, but how can I say, ‘I’m not all right. I’m not fine,’” he asked. “I still get upset. I still get angry.”

Legacy lives on through foundation
NorthJersey.com

William “Bill” Kim and Andrew Kim’s relationship was a competitive rivalry like many siblings one year apart in age. Nevertheless, the brothers held an inseparable bond until Sept. 11, 2001.

On that day, Andrew Kim, 26, was a certified financial analyst for Fred Alger Management, which was located in the World Trade Center’s north tower on the 93rd floor. American Airlines Flight 11 was flown into his building at 8:46 a.m. by terrorists, impacting from the 93rd to 99th floors.

Andrew Kim is believed to be the only Leonia resident who perished during the attack. His firm lost 36 employees.

Ten years later, his brother Bill Kim, 38, a neuroradiologist for Hackensack University Medical Center is reminded of what was taken from him and the rest of his family.

South Pasadena to Honor Family Who Perished on 9/11
PasadenaNow

On the morning of September 11, 2001, 35-year old Sue Kim Hanson boarded a Boeing 767 United Airlines flight 175 together with her husband Peter Hanson and their 2 ½ -year-old daughter Christine, from Boston en route to Los Angeles. Sue was a local product, a graduate of South Pasadena High School. The family was supposed to have a good time in Disneyland and then visit Sue’s relatives. They never made it to their destinations.

North Korea leader Kim Jong-il appears with Kim Jong-un
BBC News

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il has appeared at national celebrations with his son and heir apparent Kim Jong-un.

The rare joint appearance underlines what observers say is a planned third generation of dynastic rule.

State TV showed the two applauding from a reviewing stand as military hardware rumbled by to mark the 63rd anniversary of North Korea’s founding.

Tenafly triple murder suspect enters no plea at hearing; trial date set
Northern Valley Suburbanite (New Jersey)

Triple-murder suspect Kang-Hyuk Choi entered no plea at a hearing on Sept. 7 before Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia, according to Maureen Parenta, the communications director for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Choi allegedly stabbed Han-Il “Sean” Kim on May 4, 2008 after grabbing an eight-inch knife from a fruit plate during an argument. Kim was allegedly stabbed in the neck and the body was stuffed in a closet in Tenafly, authorities said.

Choi allegedly then waited for Kim’s mother, Yoo Bok Kim, and allegedly stabbed her several times, killing her, after she walked into the room and saw her son’s arm sticking out of the closet, authorities said.

On May 5, 2008, Choi allegedly stabbed Doo Soo Seo, who was Yoo Bok Kim’s brother-in-law, authorities said. He then allegedly took $30,000 from the house and allegedly drove away in Han Kim’s BMW before going to California, authorities said.

A first look at a Seoul chef’s Manhattan offshoot
Yonhap

Here’s a nice long feature story about new fine-dining Korean restaurant Jung Sik, opening in New York City on Sept. 12.

A restaurant opening is no news these days, but this one in particular has amassed more interest from Korea than any other this year. Despite the continued discussions of opening a flagship Korean restaurant in New York City sponsored by the Korean government and other high-end restaurant plans explored by Korean companies, the 33-year-old [Jung Sik] Yim, who already has the experience of running his successful restaurant Jung Sik Dang (JSD) in Seoul, is the first to execute his plan.

Yim is the first Korean-born-and-raised chef to open a fine-dining Korean restaurant in Manhattan. While he represents many of the first attempts as a native Korean chef, he also shares a common background with other young Korean-American chefs who have presented their take on Korean food in the U.S. in recent years.

Yim has gone through his share of professional culinary training, starting with his time spent in the army kitchen in Korea. Realizing his passion for cooking during the mandatory military service, he spent time in various kitchens in Seoul, ranging from a rice cake store to a pub to a bakery.

Shoreline a bright spot for thriving Korean Americans
Northwest Asian Weekly

Among the cities in Washington with a large Korean American community presence, Shoreline stands out. Having had three Korean American elected officials, two of them women, Shoreline is a beacon for local Korean Americans aspiring to enter the state’s political scene. It is also a thriving hub for local Korean American businesses, and it has started building bridges with Korea both past and present.

Hines Ward might be emergency QB for Steelers
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The Steelers are contemplating whether to dress No. 3 quarterback Dennis Dixon for Sunday’s game against Baltimore.

If the Steelers choose to sit Dixon, their emergency quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch will be receiver Hines Ward.

Ward said he has taken snaps and practiced handoffs following recent practices and said Thursday that he will be ready if needed at quarterback against Baltimore. “I am just taking snaps just in case,” said Ward, who last played quarterback in college. “We don’t have an option right now. I can hand the ball off, but if it comes down to me, we are really in bad shape.”

the house of suh now available on dvd
angry asian man

All right. You’ve got to watch this documentary. The award-winning true crime documentary The House of Suh, directed by Iris K. Shim, is now available on DVD. If you missed it on the film festival circuit, and missed it on television, this is your chance to watch it on your own time.

South Korea to step up suicide prevention efforts
Los Angeles Times

In 2009, 15,413 people took their lives, a rate that is three times higher than two decades ago. Officials plan to boost suicide prevention funding and install surveillance devices at key sites.

‘Hangover’ Star Ken Jeong – Is the Question Racist … Or Just Tasteless?
TMZ

This is a clip from the TMZ TV show where the news team discusses whether or not a question asked of Ken Jeong is racist.

“Hangover” actor Ken Jeong was asked if he could kick Kim Jong-il’s ass in a street fight — so, is the question racist? And it has nothing to do with them both being Korean. Okay, maybe a little.

N. Korean leader tours lavish food outlets
AFP via Google News

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il toured a meat store and pancake factory in the capital and offered “precious teachings”, state media said Thursday, as his impoverished country seeks overseas food aid.

S. Korea’s Lee says open to summit with N. Korea
AFP via Google News

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said Thursday he is open to a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, but the North should first show it is committed to peace.

“I may or may not hold an inter-Korean summit during my term,” Lee said during a nationally televised panel discussion.

Korean passenger jet on 9/11 Alaska flight could have been shot down
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Alaska)

A decade ago on the confused morning of Sept. 11, we came perilously close to having our own nightmare in Alaska.

A Korean Air Lines passenger jet on a flight from Seoul was heading to Anchorage and the military and civilian aviation authorities had good reason to believe it was hijacked.

The pilot had punched in a transponder code that signaled a hijacking, but there was uncertainty because the aircraft was obeying orders from the ground and the pilots did not seem upset, according to various accounts of the incident.

Today Show: Hoda’s Favorite Things – This Burns My Heart
The Today Show

Hoda Kotb recommends the novel THIS BURNS MY HEART by Samuel Park on the Today Show, during the Favorite Things segment with Kathie Lee Gifford. Airdate: 9/5/11. THIS BURNS MY HEART is about a young woman in South Korea in the 60s who marries the wrong man.

Q&A with Singer Jennifer Chung
TheOtherAsians

Talented, down-to-earth, and bubbly. These are the general adjectives that come to mind whenever someone meets Jennifer Chung for the first time. It’s inspiring to think that a simple girl publishing YouTube videos for her friends in a college dorm would eventually become a voice to the Youtube generation. Who would’ve known right? She has been able to engage an audience all over the world using her raw lyrics and powerful vocals balancing the whole shebang of student life –classes, loans, late night study sessions, part-time jobs.

Now with school out of the way, she is now settling in with her new life in Los Angeles, with a debut album releasing VERY soon! Join OA as we sit down with Jennifer and she shares her experience as a pioneer in new media, her feelings about her video featured on New York’s Times Square, and her development as an artist.

Ken Jeong: Friend or Foe?
Hyphen

That’s the question that kept popping up in my head as I looked at the GQ photoshoot featuring Ken Jeong and the fall season’s hottest corduroy pants. The actual task of showcasing those pants, mind you, falls not to Jeong but the male model with the washboard abs, canoodling with a 19-year-old female model. Jeong’s role is to “photobomb” each shot with nothing more than his own brashness; clothing optional.

The GQ photoshoot is the type of physical comedy audiences have come to expect from Jeong, who gained fame as the flamboyant gangster Mr. Chow from the Hangover series. In the first Hangover, a nude Chow introduced himself by leaping out of a car trunk and beating the movie’s three protagonists with a tire iron.

Fall Restaurant Preview: Jung Sik – Spicy, Crispy, Modern and Korean
New York Times

[Andrea Ahan] is one of four young Koreans and Korean-Americans who are opening Jung Sik. All of them, including the chef (for whom the restaurant is named), the pastry chef and the sommelier, attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., where, Ms. Ahan said, they bonded during trips to Fort Lee, N.J., to eat authentic Korean food like dukbokki (chewy rice cakes) and tofu stewed with kimchi.

Jung Sik Yim, the 33-year-old chef, went on to internships in New York and Spain before returning to Seoul to open Jung Sik Dang, in 2009. Said to be the first restaurant in which molecular gastronomy was applied to Korean ingredients, it was a huge hit.

Garden Grove doctor arrested in fraud sweep
Orange County Register

A doctor and an administrator at a Garden Grove medical clinic have been arrested for allegedly billing Medicare for physical therapy treatment that was never provided, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Dr. Byung Ho Pak and Mary Lim were arrested Wednesday morning as part of federal sweep in six regions of the U.S. Pak and Lim, while working at Seoul East West Medical Center, billed Medicare $2 million for physical therapy, according to an indictment. Patients, however, were given treatments that weren’t covered such as acupuncture and moxibustion, a traditional Chinese medicine skin treatment.

Korean Canadian store owner hits the jackpot
Winnipeg Free Press

A Winnipeg convenience store owner is $1 million richer after a lottery ticket he purchased at his store hit the jackpot.

Byung Cho won $1 million in the Western 649 lottery, according to the Western Canada Lottery Corp. Cho purchased a $28 ticket at his shop, Mak Milk, at 661 Talbot Ave. The next day, Cho checked his lotto numbers and discovered he had the winning numbers.

Konnect Magazine Interviews Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleader Connie Chung
Konnect Magazine

I love everything there is about being a Korean American. I embrace being an American but I also embrace being a Korean. I don’t think you can find anyone else that is more proud of being a Korean American than I. My favorite type of food is Korean and my favorite thing to do is Karaoke. I taught myself how to read and write Korean in middle school by watching popular Korean music variety shows such as Inkigayo and Music Bank. I love Korean Pop music and can watch KPOP music videos for hours and learn the dance routines. In fact, when I was in college I participated in many cultural talent shows and performed many KPOP dances! I’m a Korean American and I’m VERY proud of it.

Rare Color Photo of the Kim Dynasty
Chosun Ilbo

This rare photo of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with his younger sister Kyong-hui (right) and his father Kim Il-sung (center) was recently published by a nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com, a blog dedicated to North Korea issues.

Why Thailand has become a popular path to freedom for North Korean defectors
Christian Science Monitor

A growing number of North Korean defectors are crossing illegally into Thailand via a new ‘underground railroad’ because Thailand processes defectors and sends them to South Korea quickly.

Kim Jong-Il’s Human Rights Atrocities
New York Times (Letter to the editor)

North Korea is ranked in every survey of freedom and human rights as the worst of the worst. A network of at least six camps for political prisoners, holding up to 200,000 people, forms the core of Kim Jong-il’s terrifying control apparatus. Shocking accounts of the worst possible forms of torture have emerged from survivors of the gulags who have escaped.

What should the international community do?

First, end its silence. It is extraordinary that a situation as severe as North Korea is so seldom discussed. When North Korea is on the agenda, it is in the context of its nuclear program, regional security or food shortages. Rarely do the North Korean gulags enter the consciences of international policymakers. That must change.

Minn. man sentenced for harboring illegal aliens
WXOW.com (La Crosse, Wisc.)

An Eagan man has been sentenced to two years in prison for harboring illegal aliens so they could work in his siding business.

U.S. District Judge Joan N. Ericksen on Wednesday sentenced 63-year-old Joo Ok Kim on one count of harboring and concealing aliens.

Kim pleaded guilty in August 2010. In his plea agreement, he admitted that from November 2008 through March 2009 he kept five Mexican nationals in his basement.

In Immigrant Areas, a Culture Clash Over Gay Marriage
New York Times

A bar in Sunnyside, Queens recently held a raffle for a same-sex wedding reception, which included a horse-drawn carriage as transportation.

Neighbors said they would boycott the bar. Bloggers posted reports of past health violations there. Larry Yang, the Korean-American owner of a hardware store next door, said he resented such a public promotion of same-sex marriage. He said many among the large number of Korean-American Christians in Queens felt similarly but feared that if they spoke out they would be demonized by a liberal majority.

“If that horse-drawn carriage rides by my store, I will make sure my kids do not see it,” Mr. Yang, 45, said. “I am worried about what kind of message gay marriage is sending.”

Korean women use invention to jump over gender gap
Yonhap

Lee Bok-hui used to wonder what happened to all the leftover stones she saw lying around construction sites. Now she knows exactly where a percentage of those leftovers go — into an eco-friendly inflammable sheeting-material used to reinforce electrical outlets, which she invented specifically to reuse that construction site waste.

Lee debuted her invention at the Korea International Women’s Invention Exposition in May, where she won second place in the expo’s title prize.

S. Korea court upholds Somali pirate life sentence
AFP via Yahoo News

A South Korean appeals court on Thursday upheld a life sentence on a Somali pirate convicted of hijacking a South Korean-operated ship in the Arabian Sea and trying to murder the captain.

The high court in the southern port of Busan confirmed the sentence passed in late May on Mahomed Araye after the 23-year-old had appealed.

Prosecutors had sought the death sentence for Araye for shooting and seriously injuring Captain Seok Hae-Kyun of the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry with an AK rifle.

Suicide main cause of death for those under 40 in S. Korea
Yonhap

Suicide was the No. 1 cause of death among people under 40 years of age in South Korea last year, with the nation’s overall suicide rate also marking the highest among the world’s major countries, a report showed Thursday.

Former classmate charged with murder of Michelle Le
San Francisco Chronicle

A Union City woman was charged today with murder in the slaying of a nursing student who vanished from a Hayward parking garage more than three months ago.

Giselle Esteban, 27, who is pregnant, is to appear this afternoon on a charge of murder at the Hayward Hall of Justice. She is accused of killing her former high school friend Michelle Le, 26, whose body hasn’t been found.

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